John Cena’s Next Feud, Jerry Lawler Commentary Note, 2017 PWI 500

WWE is currently in the process of building up a rivalry between John Cena and Roman Reigns. The rumor is that after the feud is finished, Cena could be leaving again briefly to get some new filming work done. Dirtysheets.net may have revealed some future plans for Cena. It appears that his feud with Reigns was going to be a lengthy one, but they were forced to cut it short due to Cena’s film commitments. When John Cena does return, he will reportedly appear back on Smackdown to challenge Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship. He will reportedly be returning sometime towards the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018.
When Booker T could not attend this past Monday’s Raw show due to the ongoing events in Houston, Texas, WWE was lucky to have Memphis native Jerry “The King” Lawler close by to do commentary for the show. Lawler addressed the company’s decision to only use him for commentary occasionally on a local radio show in Memphis (these comments were reported by four3four.com). Jerry Lawler believes that a different style of announcing is what led to his status dwindling over the past few years. He says that play-by-play announcing isn’t the same as it was several years ago, and his presence may help fans perceive the commentary team this way.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated has revealed their annual PWI 500 list featuring their top 500 wrestlers in the entire industry today. The list is an annual tradition that has been ongoing since 1991. Last year’s list was topped by Roman Reigns, and it had New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Kazuchika Okada coming in at #2. This year, Okada has overtaken the #1 spot on the list, followed by AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, Kenny Omega, Shinsuke Nakamura, Dean Ambrose, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, and The Miz each respectively filling in the top ten spots. Not only is Okada the first Japanese wrestler ever to earn the #1 spot on the list, but he is also the first person not signed to a major North American promotion (WWE, WCW, or TNA) to earn the honor.